MILWAUKEE — The University of Cincinnati women’s soccer team was defeated by No. 19 Marquette University 5-0 Sunday afternoon at Valley Field.

Junior forward Meagan Kelly led the MU charge with a hat trick as the Golden Eagles were on the attack for the majority of the match.

Marquette outshot Cincinnati by a margin of 18-3 and took 10 corner kicks compared to one for UC.

MU scored its first four goals before the Bearcats attempted their first shot of the match, which occurred in the 44th minute when junior Emily Elsbrock (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) launched a shot on goal that was saved by Golden Eagles freshman keeper Amanda Engel.

UC sophomore midfielder Megan Cravenor (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota West) took the Bearcats’ second shot of the day in the 57th minute.

Cincinnati’s best scoring opportunity came on its lone corner kick in the 76th minute. Senior forward Evi Ranson’s (Golden, Colo./Ralston Valley) corner kick was placed just in front of the net, which allowed sophomore defender Christi Howard (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson) to emerge from a group of players and head the ball just high of the goal.

Kelly got the scoring started after booting a short corner kick to junior midfielder Cara Jacobson, who quickly returned the ball to Kelly, which set up Kelly’s left-footed shot from the right side of the box that went into the net at the 9:02 mark. Three minutes later, junior midfielder Taylor Madigan found a rebound off a Kristina Utley (Castro Valley, Calif./Castro Valley) save and stuck it into the goal for a 2-0 Marquette lead.

At the 22:46 mark, Marquette added its third score of the match when junior Vanessa Legault-Cordisco sent a cross into the middle of the box and found Kelly, who beat Utley to the near post.

The Eagles would go into halftime with a 4-0 lead after junior Kate Reigle scored off a cross from Mary Luba in the 39th minute.

MU's final goal occurred in the first minute of the second half when Reigle connected on a through-ball and dished it to Kelly, who was waiting in the box and found the back of the net for a 5-0 advantage.

Cincinnati’s defense played much more vigorously the rest of the way compared to the first 46 minutes.

Utley finished the match with three saves, while MU split the shutout between Engel and sophomore Sofie Schunk, who each recorded one save in 45 minutes.

Cincinnati plays its final two home matches of the season next weekend, starting with a 7 p.m. Friday matchup versus No. 14 Georgetown at Gettler Stadium.